Notice: If you have ever e-mailed me and never received a response please contact me again!
Unfortunately, I had a hard drive crash and know I had a number of unanswered e-mails from possible cousins that were lost!
Katherine Ashbaugh
and William McHenry,
ca. 1865, Bremer County, Iowa.
Photo courtesy of Ray W.
Justus.
Announcing! The 200th anniversary of the Ashbaugh Family in Fairfield County, Ohio will be celebrated August 21, 1999 in Bremen, close to the original Ashbaugh home site. The reunion is being organized by descendants of James Saxton Ashbaugh, but other Ashbaugh cousins are welcome as well! Contact Brad Ashbaugh for more information.
Now Here! Some pictures from my trip to Iowa, including Aunt Flossie's 94th Birthday/Jennings Family Reunion, a trip to the Big Woods with some Jennings cousins, and my sister Ellen & I playing at the park with our young cousins. The photo album starts here
Coming Soon! An updated database of the descendants of Johann Heinrich Eschbach, and a few more things on the Ashbaugh family!
The Ashbaughs are likely
the descendants of two brothers, Johann and Friedrich Eschbach,
who had settled in upper Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, about
1728. John and Frederick were probably the sons of Alcase
Eschbach, who was born circa 1765. The Eschbachs were among the
German-speaking immigrants known as the Pennsylvania Dutch.
The "esch" in Eschbach is pronounced like the
"esh" in "fresh." In German, the
"ch" in "bach" sounds like "baugh."
The Eschbach name has been found to have been spelled several
different ways in early records (such as Eshback, Essbach,
Aschbach). With the adoption of English as the primary language
of the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early Twentieth Century, many
Eschbachs chose to drop the "C" in their name to become
Eshbachs. More information on the Eschbach/Eshbach families can
be found at the Eschbach/Eshbach Family Tree
maintained by Ed Eschbach
and Rick Eshbach.
The earliest known
record of an Eschbach in Pennsylvania is in the "Petition of
the Frontier Inhabitants of ye County of Philadelphia" dated
April 29, 1728. This petition, in which settlers asked
Pennsylvania governor Patrik Gordon for protection from the
Indians, included the signature of a Johannes Eschbach. (History
of the Lutheran Church at New Hanover, Montgomery County, 1910.
Page 245.)
In 1734, John Ashbaugh of Hanover Township, Philadelphia (now
Montgomery) County is recorded as owning 100 acres of land.
A newspaper item dated May 16, 1752 reads: "Friedrich
Eschbach and Johannes Hugel are going to Germany after the
harvest, they will take letters if forwarded to Johannes Eschbach
or Johannes Hugel, Falckner Swamp, Montgomery co."
(Eighteenth Century Emigrants from the Northern Alsace to
America, by Burgert. Page 266.)
The Falkner Swamp Reformed Church records Fredrick and Margaret
Eschbach as having children Elizabeth Margaret, born 1758, John
Henry born, 1766, and Maria, born 1769. Also at the same church,
John and Anna Eschbach with son John Phillip born 1749.
(Pennsylvania Births, Montgomery county, 1682-1800, by John T.
Humphrey.)
Another newspaper item reads: "Margaret Eschbach, daughter
of Fredrick Eschbach married Christian Walter, son of Jacob
Walter in 1785."
{Information on these citations are courtesy of Ed Eschbach}
Thanks to Ed Eschbach,
Ray W. Justus, and Peggy Sells Taranenko for providing
information on the Ashbaugh family!
The Descendants of Alcase
Eschbach
Updated June 21,
1999
Please send any
additions or comments to Sara J.
Holmes
Number of visitors since Dec. 31, 1998